The present invention relates to an electrical apparatus system including a power generator, a first electrical apparatus and a second electrical apparatus used together with the first electrical apparatus.
As a conventional specific example of an electrical apparatus system including a power generator, a first electrical apparatus and a second electrical apparatus used together with the first electrical apparatus, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-243113 discloses an electrical apparatus system in which a depilator that depilates body hair is used as the first electrical apparatus, a cleaning apparatus that cleans the depilator is used as the second electrical apparatus, and an AC adapter is used as a power generator that supplies electricity to these electrical apparatuses.
As shown in FIG. 1, a depilator 1 is the first electrical apparatus. The depilator 1 includes a control circuit 51 that generally controls the depilator 1, a battery (secondary battery) 52, a side surface terminal 53 that is connected to a cleaning apparatus 2, a charging circuit 54 that charges the battery 52, and a cutting unit 55 that cuts body hair. The cutting unit 55 includes a blade for cutting the body hair, and a motor for rotating the blade.
The cleaning apparatus 2, as the second electrical apparatus, includes a control circuit 61 that controls the entire cleaning apparatus 2, a connection terminal 62 that is connected to the side surface terminal 53 provided in the depilator 1, a cleaning unit 63 that cleans the cutting unit 55, a tightly closed container (not shown) in which cleaning liquid is accommodated, and a pump 64 that supplies the cleaning liquid in the container to the cleaning unit 63 by pressurizing the tightly closed container. The pump 64 pressurizes the cleaning liquid in the cleaning unit 63 after cleaning to send back the same into the container. The cleaning apparatus 2 also includes an air valve 65 for releasing the air-tight state in the container when the cleaning of the depilator 1 using the cleaning liquid is completed and when the cleaning liquid is collected by the pump 64, a fan apparatus 66 that sends air into the cutting unit 55 to dry the same, and a display circuit 68 for displaying states of the depilator 1 and the cleaning apparatus 2 such as the charging state, the cleaning state and the like.
The control circuit 51 of the depilator 1 controls the depilator 1 such that the cutting unit 55 is driven by electric power supplied from an external power supply through an AC adapter or electric power supplied from the battery 52. Control is performed such that the cutting unit 55 of the depilator 1 is driven according to a signal sent from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 of the cleaning apparatus 2 and the side surface terminal 53 of the depilator 1. The charging circuit 54 charges the battery 52 by electric power supplied from the external power supply through the AC adapter or electric power supplied from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 of the cleaning apparatus 2 and the side surface terminal 53 of the depilator 1. The control circuit 61 of the cleaning apparatus 2 controls operations such as a cleaning operation and a charging operation. The control circuit 61 also controls the sending operations of the control signal and the electric power to the depilator 1 through the connection terminal 62 of the cleaning apparatus 2 and the side surface terminal 53 of the depilator 1. The display circuit 68 includes a display element such as a light-emitting diode, and a drive circuit. The display circuit 68 turns the display element ON or OFF according to a signal from the control circuit 61, the display circuit 68 display the operation state (charging, cleaning or the like) of the depilator 1 and the cleaning apparatus 2.
The power generator (not shown) is an AC adapter that converts AC electric power input from the external power supply into DC electric power of level necessary for operating the depilator 1 and the cleaning apparatus 2. DC electric power is supplied to the depilator 1 and the cleaning apparatus 2 by connecting the external power supply and the depilator 1 or the cleaning apparatus 2 to each other.
The operation of the electrical apparatus system is explained. To remove the body hair, the AC adapter is connected to the depilator 1, and the cutting unit 55 is driven by electric power supplied from the external power supply through the AC adapter. Alternatively, the AC adapter is not connected, and the cutting unit 55 is driven by electric power supplied from the battery 52 incorporated in the depilator 1, thereby removing the body hair. Next, to clean the depilator 1, the external power supply and the cleaning apparatus 2 are connected to each other through the AC adapter, the depilator 1 is reclined against along an inclined portion 67 that rises upward on the one side of the cleaning unit 63 of the cleaning apparatus 2 (right side in FIG. 1) such that a surface on which the side surface terminal 53 is provided and a surface on which the connection terminal 62 is provided are opposed to each other, and the cutting unit 55 is disposed in the cleaning unit 63. If the side surface terminal 53 comes into contact with the connection terminal 62, the contact of the side surface terminal 53 with respect to the connection terminal 62 is detected by any detector, and control is performed such that the cleaning operation is started by the control circuit 61 of the cleaning apparatus 2. Simultaneously, a control signal and electric power are supplied from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 and the side surface terminal 53, The control signal sent from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 and the side surface terminal 53 is input to the control circuit 51 of the depilator 1 to drive the cutting unit 55. The battery 52 is charged by the electric power supplied from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 and the side surface terminal 53.
By sending the control signal and electric power from the cleaning apparatus 2 through the connection terminal 62 and the side surface terminal 53 in this manner, the operation of the cleaning apparatus 2 connected to the external power supply through the AC adapter is controlled, and control of the operation of the depilator 1 and the charging operation can be carried out.